Sheep Dolly died ten years ago. The first cloned animal

Sheep Dolly is famous for being the first cloned animal in history. Dolly died ten years ago.

Sheep Dolly died ten years ago. The first cloned animal

The first cloned animal in history was this sheep, slaughtered on February 14 due to health problems. Dolly was 6 years old and had a lung infection. According to Ian Wilmut , the creator, the sheep was suffering from aging much faster than normal.

On February 23, 1997, Sheep Dolly was born in the UK Roslin Institute. Scientists had extracted cell genetic material from an adult sheep and implanted it into an ovule without chromosomes. The result was an embryo genetically identical to the giver sheep. The embryo was implanted in the uterus of a surrogate mother and the fetus developed inside: the cloning of the first mammal was a success.

The birth of the Sheep Dolly marked a before and after in the history of science, because its case showed the world that it was possible the reprogramming of the genetic material from an adult cell. This involved new possibilities in the world of medicine and in treatment of diseases, but also posed major ethical questions about the topic.

A study published in Nature in 1999 invited to think that Dolly suffered an apparent premature aging. According to the report, the sheep may have been born with a genetic age of six years, the same as the giver was.

Dolly suffered from arthritis (a strange illness for its age) which revived the debate on the state of degradation that the animal had lived. However, the official answer was that the sheep Dolly had suffered several falls and that probably was the result of its unnatural lifestyle, closed in the Roslin Institute and without space where to move.

Anyway, before leaving the world, Dolly the Sheep gave birth to six lambs, revealing that even through cloning, the animal was fertile and resistant.

The Roslin Institute has abandoned its research on cloning to focus on breeding animals and the products derived from them.